Under Armour Taps Gap Inc. Veteran as Chief Supply Chain Officer
Katie Abel
Executive Editor
Under Armour Inc. has tapped Gap Inc. veteran Shawn Curran for its chief supply chain officer role as recently installed president and CEO Stephanie Linnartz continues to overhaul the C-suite at the Baltimore-based athletic company.
With supply chain and sourcing issues at the top of the agenda for footwear players, Curran will oversee areas that include end-to-end planning, product sourcing and manufacturing, global vendor management, distribution and logistics, among other things. Sustainability will also be under the executive’s direction.
“Shawn is a retail industry powerhouse who comes to Under Armour at this critical time with the breadth and depth of experience that we need to optimize the backbone of our business, the supply chain, to ensure that our consumers get the right products, at the right price, at the right time,” said Linnartz in a statement.
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Curran, who spent three decades at Gap Inc., was most recently Old Navy’s COO, where he oversaw 44,000 associates across 1,200 stores and managed end-to-end operations, inventory management and sourcing. Throughout his tenure at the San Francisco apparel giant, he held several roles across the Gap portfolio, including serving as COO and head of global supply chain across all seven of the firm’s brands.
For its part, Under Armour has been rolling out a business transformation plan throughout 2023. Linnartz’s Protect This House 3 (PTH 3) plan includes reinvigorating brand DNA, addressing key product areas and accelerating business growth in North America.
As part of the strategy, Linnartz has made a series of executive changes and eliminated some roles. In June, the company said longtime COO Colin Browne would exit, along with chief product officer Lisa Collier.
At the time, the company also named Jim Dausch as chief consumer officer, and said it would shelve the COO role and instead hire a chief supply chain officer. At the same time, Under Armour named Jim Dausch as EVP, chief consumer officer and promoted Danny Miles to EVP, chief technology officer.
In the fiscal first quarter results, revealed in August, Under Armour reported that revenue was down 2 percent to $1.3 billion. Net income was $9 million, with diluted earnings per share of 2 cents. Analysts surveyed by Yahoo were looking for a 2 cent loss per share and $1.3 billion in revenues.
Linnartz said in a statement that she was pleased with the company’s start to the fiscal year, despite a “challenging consumer retail environment in North America.”
